PICKFORD — For the first time this season, St. Ignace didn't completely roll over the competition.

Then again, a 33-point win was still pretty convincing.

Pickford hung close for awhile, but the Saints pulled away for a 39-6 victory in a Ski Valley North Conference football matchup Friday night.

The Saints improved to 7-0 overall and took over sole possession of first place in the North division of the conference at 4-0. It was the 100th career win for Saints' coach Marty Spencer, now in his 16th season.

The Saints outgained the Panthers 515 to 106 in total yards. Facing a defense stacked against the run, the Saints compiled 298 passing yards, including three TD aerials of 30 yards or more. Junior quarterback Tyler Snyder was 13-of-19 passing for 273 yards and four touchdowns.

"They had eight or nine guys in the box most of the time and they took away some of our running game," Spencer said. "We took advantage of what they gave us, which was mostly the passing game, although we had some good runs too.

"We have athletes who can really run after the catch, and a quarterback who can get the ball to them," Spencer said. "If we have to rely more on passing sometimes, we have confidence we can do that."

Snyder threw TD passes of 30 yards to Cody Therrian, 44 yards to Joe Ostman, and 38 yards to Parker Simmons in the first half. The Saints led 21-6 at intermission.

On their Homecoming night, the Panthers played with intensity, but couldn’t do much against the Saints’ stout defense.

"We knew it was going to be a tough game," Pickford coach Josh Rader said. "St. Ignace is senior dominated and they have all kinds of talent at every position. I thought our defense did a good job of shutting down their running game, but they beat us with some big passing plays. With their team speed, that's a difficult team to defend.

"We're still 5-2 and we're in good position to make a charge at the end and get in the playoffs," Rader said. "I think we grew as a team, even from last week, and we played hard for four quarters."

While averaging 53.8 points and giving up just 2.4 through six games, the Saints hadn't faced a team with a winning record until Friday night.

"Absolutely it does make it tougher," Spencer said of his team's weekly preparation. "Our starters have only played more than a half a game until tonight. We have to find a way to stay game ready, which has been difficult."

Page 2 of 2 - The Saints were without starting center and defensive end Dane Mortensen (6-2, 280 pounds), who is sidelined with a separated shoulder suffered last week against Forest Area.

"It's a tough loss, being without a 280-pound senior like him," Spencer said. "But it's football and injuries are something every team deals with. Other kids have to step up. We've always told our players that you are one play away from being a starter."

Tyler Barthelemy filled in for Mortensen at center, while Gavin St. Onge took over as a starter at defensive end.

Galloway Thurston had a 2-yard TD run, and James Helms had a 4-yard TD run for the Saints in the second half. Snyder also threw a 16-yard TD pass to Curtis St. Louis in the third quarter.

Eight different players carried the football as the Saints finished with 217 yards rushing on 49 tries. St. Louis led the way with 63 yards on 13 carries. Ostman had five catches for 89 yards, while Therrian caught four passes for 105 yards and St. Louis had two for 44.

On defense, Ostman made 13 tackles while St. Louis had 10. Ted Orm and Spencer Crystal recovered fumbles.

The Panthers were limited to just five first downs. Quarterback Jared Hatfield led the ground game with 39 yards rushing on 11 carries. Hatfield was 5-of-10 passing for 38 yards. Elijay May caught two passes for 21 yards to lead the Panther receivers.

Lavigne made nine tackles for the Panthers, while Blake Kauffman and Hatfield had eight apiece and Travis Reich had seven. Lavigne, Hatfield and Reich recovered one fumble each.

St. Ignace wraps up conference play at Pellston on Oct. 12, while Pickford visits Rudyard.